I saw this on the Garmin site today, might be a good deal if you have been wanting one of the fancier eTrex units.

http://www.garmin.com/whatsNew/currentpromotions/index.html


FWIW,
CharlieP

I've been chomping at the bit to get a new GPSR and this puts me $50 closer. Say, does anyone have $200 I can "borrow"...I'll gladly pay you Tuesday...

tjb

Yea, I've got my eye on an ETrex Vista like Mtn Man's. Offroute.com has em on sale for $294.95 (linked from Geocaching.com page). With Garmin's $50 off that makes it $244.95. Galyans wanted $349 base for it.
Here comes Santa Claus!

'Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.' - Anonymous

Phat.bak,
I think I saw the Vista discounted to $250 recently. That's also the model I'm interested in (Mtn Man will probably want a kick back from Garmin). I'll see if I can track down where/when I saw that price when I get a chance and post it here.

tjb

I will be at the meeting with the Vista, and I will go ahead and bring my laptop with the Garmin Mapsource software so you can see it on the computer. I have the streets and the topo versions. Mapsource is not as nice as the DeLorme mapping software, but the DeLorme stuff will not import into the Vista. You can export data from your GPS and bring it into the DeLorme software and it generates some awesome maps (Allen has shown some of that). At least this way you can see exactly what the GPS, the hookup and the live software look like.

I don't want a kick-back from Garmin, they take too long... I want it directly from YOU!

I have the MapSource Topo software if anyone wants me to bring it along to show on the laptop.

~erik~

...I had planned on caching after the breakfast but I suspect I'll be in such a feeding frenzy that I head right over to REI and stock up on goodies!

I'd love to see the Vista and software at work. Thanks!

tjb

No luck in finding the Vista at the $250 price I thought I had seen. Must be getting too old!

That would have been a great price, but I found something almost as good. TigerGPS has an online discount of $70 from their base price of $349. Add the Garmin $50 rebate to it and you can have it for $229 (plus shipping).
Mapsource CD's are $89.99 (unless you have LimeWire - hehe )
I want to see mtnman's Vista with MapSource, Erik's topo on laptop and Allen's GPS V in detail before I purchase.
I'll keep checking prices.

'Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.' - Anonymous

Phanatik has given me my XMas present a little early, just in time for the Breakfast Cache. I have a new Vista on the way to be delivered just in time. Got it from GPSDiscount.com for $284.92. With Garmin discount it totals $234.92. Ground shipping is free. They also throw in a free T-shirt with the purchase.
I emailed the sales department requesting a couple of extra T's for doorprizes to a GGA meeting. Explained to them how good publicity is vital. They checked out the site and emailed me back that they would drop a couple more in the box. So look for a couple to be donated at an upcoming meeting.

'Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.' - Anonymous

Sound like you have a Merry Christmas on the way, and the free t-shirts are a nice extra. It's interesting sometimes what you can get if you just ask. The worst you usually get is a polite "no".

~erik~

A shiney digital camera has caught my eye and I think I may purchase it instead of the Vista. But, $234 is a great price and I am all about value. I'll have to see how much the camera accesories cost and then maybe I'll dip into the old credit card for a little while longer than I had hoped.

I look forward to seeing the Vista and Garmin V in person at this weekend's breakfast. I hope to see the mapping software too!

tjb

This morning I intentionally kept my distance from Mtn Man's laptop with the mapping software and Phat.bak's new Vista as I was going to hit the Best Buy behind the breakfast cache locale and buy my shiney new digital camera.

Two hours later, with the help of 12 months same as cash, I left with my shiney new camera AND a Vista. The computer rang up the Vista about $20 off the shelf price and the check out kid just shrugged so at least I didn't overpay as much as I had accepted. Now to get that rebate in the mail. Once I get the toys paid off I'll consider the mapping software. But, for now I've maxed my credit and need to take a break!

tjb

so he could spend more time with Clark Howard!

We're going to expect to see some really neat pictures posted with your upcoming finds, Jess. Enjoy!

-Brad

TJ - glad that you could swing both toys. What kind of camera did you get? I had to wait 6 months between gizmos. I did notice you getting a peek or two at mtn-man's rig. I was just spellbound.
I went after a few caches after the meeting and purposely did not print any maps like I used to. After a small learning curve on how to adjust the maps, it worked like a charm. Hope you enjoy yours as much as I know I will mine. (First 4 caches today on the Vista)

'4 legs good - 2 legs bad.' - Animal Farm

I had hoped no one saw me sneaking a peek at Mtn Man's laptop and the mapping software. I really meant to be a good little consumer today. Oh well, I guess I'm just doing my part for the economy!

The digital camera I bought is an Olympus 5050z. (5 megapixel with a 35mm-105mm zoom--35mm equivalent). It's one of the so called "pro-sumer" cameras. I've wanted to get into digital photography for many years but haven't been happy with the printed images. The 5mp class seems to be the first to come sufficiently close to 35mm quality for my tastes. I went with the 5050z because it gives me full control over the image like my old Nikons. It's a new model and pricey but I figured what the hey, it's Christmas, I'll treat myself. Ha! I sure did treat myself!

I only played with the Vista while driving around today and am confused by/have trouble with a few things. However, I'll use it in the field tomorrow (a cache or two) and see if that doesn't straighten me out. If I still have questions I'll be sure to post them on the boards so that folks familiar with the Etrex line can help out.

I guess I'll now have to include photos with my online cache logs. Now if I could just figure out where to get a picture of a goat...

The next time you are in Stone Mountain Park, go to the petting zoo located near the large antebellum house behind the Inn. They have about fifteen goats. Find one that looks like your intended "victim" and we look forward to seeing the post with your new camera.

If Santa would be really good to you . . . he would look into a program called Photo Essential Version 2. It is a "lite version" of Photoshop 7.0 (an extremely expensive program). I've seen it all over the place for $99 with a $20 rebate. The editing capabilities are awsome.

5 MP, WOW! That is awesome. You now need a 96 MB card! Bring that thing to the next meeting you come to, I would like to see that. Any questions about the Vista will be answered by someone for sure. Good luck out there!

LostNFound: A petting zoo, what a great idea! I hadn't thought about that. I've been lurking in an Olympus 5050z users group this last week and have read good things about Photo Essentials. I'll probably buy it after I pick up the topo program for my Vista.

Greg: I found a 128MB CF card at Best Buy for a pretty good price and was surprised at check-out when the register printed out a $20 rebate. I've read that different brands of the same card can have significant differences in the amount of time required to save an image. I bought a PNY card and it's pretty fast (~2-3 secs). The camera will hold two cards at the same time and I can mix SM, CF, and the new xD format. My next card purchase will be a 256MB xD card. It should save images in no more than 2 secs if all the hype pans out. I won't be able to attend a meeting for a while but will bring it with me next time we meet.

tjb